West Bank deaths bring calls for vengeance, threaten peace

JERUSALEM (AP) - Making good on a pledge to Israel to fight harder against militants, Palestinian security forces arrested two Palestinian suspects Tuesday in the killing of a Jewish settler.

Settlers set up a roadside stone memorial Tuesday in the West Bank town of Hebron, where the body of 29-year-old Danny Vargas was dumped from his car Monday. It bore the inscription "Avenge the blood."

Politicians and friends, gathered at Vargas' open grave Tuesday to demand that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu back out of his agreement to withdraw from more West Bank land.

"You promised us peace and security, and we have neither," said legislator Rehavam Zeevi, a member of the far-right Moledet party. Some mourners shouted "wage war!" as Zeevi spoke.

At a second funeral Tuesday, about 3,000 people buried an elderly Palestinian who was bludgeoned to death Monday near a Jewish settlement of Itamar in the northern West Bank, apparently by an Israeli extremist.

The crowd chanted "revenge! revenge!" and the Israeli army declared Palestinian towns in the West Bank off-limits to Israelis, apparently because of concern about possible revenge attacks. The ban was lifted after several hours.

Despite the latest violence, Netanyahu said he was determined to withdraw troops from another 13 percent of the West Bank over the next 12 weeks, as promised.

"The only thing that can prevent the implementation of the agreement is if the (Israeli) Cabinet does not approve it, or if the Palestinians do not fulfill it," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu later postponed a Cabinet session to ratify the accord, saying the Palestinians had not delivered a working document on security.

A Palestinian official for the Palestinians said he hoped the move was not a stalling tactic.

"This detailed plan is an internal Palestinian plan dealing with security," said Ahmed Tibi, a spokesman for Yasser Arafat. "The Israelis do not need to see it."

He said the plan was agreed on at the recent summit in the United States and was kept in the safekeeping of President Clinton.

Earlier, Netanyahu was evasive when asked whether he would freeze a withdrawal if parliament passes an early elections bill.

Israeli media speculated Tuesday that Netanyahu might try to discourage dovish opponents from backing the bill by announcing he would suspend the pullback in the event of early elections.

Netanyahu said he would not speculate about spring elections because he hoped they would not take place.

Netanyahu's most vocal critics have been Jewish settlers and their representatives in parliament.

Hard-liners opposed to the West Bank withdrawal and legislators hoping to bring down Netanyahu agreed Monday to present a bill to parliament calling for early elections.

Israeli media speculated Tuesday that Netanyahu might try to discourage the dovish opposition from backing the bill by declaring he would suspend the pullback in the event of early elections.

The Labor Party and its left-wing partners support the peace agreement, but want Netanyahu out of office.

Demonstrating a new resolve to fight harder against militants, Palestinian security forces arrested two Hebron men Tuesday in the Vargas killing.

Ahmed Tibi, a spokesman for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said one of the men was suspected of shooting Vargas and the other of being an accomplice.

The two suspects also confessed to killing a Jewish seminary student earlier this month near the communal farm of Ora, south of Jerusalem, Tibi said.

Israel army radio identified the suspected gunman as Jamal Jadallah and said he denied any ties to the Islamic militant group Hamas, the main opponent to peace with Israel.

Despite the new cooperation, Israeli troops reacted harshly to the Vargas killing, clamping a curfew on the downtown area of Hebron they control and sealing the city so Palestinians could not leave or enter.

The curfew barred about 30,000 Palestinians from leaving their homes. During the crackdown, troops entered a girls' elementary school and ordered the students, some of them crying, to go home.

Since August, downtown Hebron residents have been under curfew twice for a total of three weeks, and the new restrictions embittered many Palestinians.

"We thought that we could now go to Gaza, but we cannot even leave our homes," said Khalil Jaberi, 26, referring to a provision in the accord for a new land route for Palestinians between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.